coming soon

Got back from Cologne this weekend, and am working on editing the 300 pics and videos I took. Most of them are of a giant cathedral, which is the only structure I've seen so far in my life that I would label "majestic". I was awe-struck whenever I looked at it.

The rest of the pictures are of some underground Roman ruins lit by blue light, some night shots of the pub area and a bridge, and some dusk shots with a pretty sky. And there are two pictures of a waitress I had who is the biggest bitch in the world, and who would've ruined my day had the incident not been followed by the sudden appearance of a Hare Krishna parade (which is also the subject of several pictures).

psychogeography

I'm in Cologne, Germany, on bid'ness. As I talk with the people, I realize that the psychogeography in Europe -- the feeling of distance between two locations -- is much smaller than in the States. (I coined that term.) Europeans talk about going to Spain or Italy for the weekend like it's no big deal. Going a similar distance in the States, though, is seen as a relatively big undertaking. Cross-country travel in the U.S. is just a hassle and is something that people have to plan for; even going to a neighboring state for the weekend can seem like a big undertaking. Going from San Francisco to Las Vegas seems like a bigger trip to Americans than going from Rome to Madrid does to Europeans. There's a bigger psychological divide in our country's geography.

All this is probably due to the high-speed rail system in Europe, of course. It presents much less of a travel hassle than a plane flight covering the same territory.

On another, or perhaps similar, note, there's an intercountry soccer competition going on right now between the members of the European Union. Each country has its own soccer team, and the best teams play a single-elimination match against another country. The two countries left standing at the end play each other. It seems (and feels) like the Final Four in the U.S., but we're talking countries rather than states/schools.

weddings

Bachelorette parties in Norway are someone odd. The goal is to make the future bride do a bunch of embarrassing things all day. In the park the other day, such a party made her come over to us (strangers to her) and recite instructions on how to find and pick mushrooms. It was probably more embarrassing for her because most of us didn't know Norwegian and had no idea what she was saying.

Many of the party games seem to involve making a fool of yourself by saying something random to strangers or by doing something weird in front of passersby on the sidewalk. The parties are apparently pretty common, and the brides are easy to spot because her friends dress her up in clown clothes and such.

Below is a pic of the mushroom bride, talking to another group of strangers and then hanging out with her friends.

paintball wounds

On the ribs and forearms, sustained during a game today.

checks

Checks are obsolete in Norway. The banks don't have such accounts, and shopkeepers laugh if you suggest paying with one. You can't even pay rent or bills via check. Rather, you pay everyone online via your bank account, and the process is so normalized that all companies have a special ID number that you're supposed to use for the purpose; that number is included on all billing statements

Also, Norwegian banks have introduced a security measure that has somewhat replaced the PIN. When you sign up for an account, you receive a small electronic device, the size of a keychain fob. This device has a button and a small LCD screen; pushing the button produces a random 6-digit number on the display, and also transmits that number to some gatekeeping system. You enter that number when logging into your account or attempting to send money somewhere, and the gatekeeper checks to see if what you entered matches the number it received. Once used, the number is worthless, and you have to push the button for a new number for your next transaction. It took me a little bit to understand the system at first.

rabbit island

In Oslo's fjord are 3-4 small beach islands on which the Norwegians like to sun themselves during Summer. I haven't ferried to them yet, but they're supposed to be nice. One in particular has intrigued me, because it's supposed to be overrun with rabbits. From what I hear, people over the years would buy rabbits as pets, get tired of them, and then deposit them on this island.

It probably started a while ago with a couple of people planting a few rabbits there. Eventually, those rabbits found each other and produced offspring. Later visitors to the island saw some of those new rabbits bouncing around, decided they were cute, and so bought a rabbit or two as a pet. But then they got tired of the bunny, and so they abandoned it on rabbit island, where it would have friends. Soon, the island was brimming with them.

Sadly, I've learned recently that the gov'ment went and killed most or all of the bunnies. I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing the population had gotten too large to sustain itself. Either way, the island isn't as much of a draw for me, because I'm not all that interested in seeing a bunch of bleached rabbit skeletons dotting the beach.

daylight

The days are getting even longer. It's almost 11:30 pm now, and it's barely dusk outside. Even by 1:00 in the morning, it's not completely dark.

The extended sun is actually pretty cool, and it tricks your mind into fending off fatigue for a while. Makes me wonder whether people would be more productive if days were always this long.